A literature review is a critical analysis and synthesis of existing research on a particular topic. It provides an overview of the current state of knowledge, identifies gaps, and highlights key findings in the literature. 1 The purpose of a literature review is to situate your own research within the context of existing scholarship, demonstrating your understanding of the topic and showing how your work contributes to the ongoing conversation in the field. Learning how to write a literature review is a critical tool for successful research. Your ability to summarize and synthesize prior research pertaining to a certain topic demonstrates your grasp on the topic of study, and assists in the learning process.
What is the purpose of literature review , a. habitat loss and species extinction: , b. range shifts and phenological changes: , c. ocean acidification and coral reefs: , d. adaptive strategies and conservation efforts: .
What is a literature review .
A well-conducted literature review demonstrates the researcher’s familiarity with the existing literature, establishes the context for their own research, and contributes to scholarly conversations on the topic. One of the purposes of a literature review is also to help researchers avoid duplicating previous work and ensure that their research is informed by and builds upon the existing body of knowledge.
A literature review serves several important purposes within academic and research contexts. Here are some key objectives and functions of a literature review: 2
1. Contextualizing the Research Problem: The literature review provides a background and context for the research problem under investigation. It helps to situate the study within the existing body of knowledge.
2. Identifying Gaps in Knowledge: By identifying gaps, contradictions, or areas requiring further research, the researcher can shape the research question and justify the significance of the study. This is crucial for ensuring that the new research contributes something novel to the field.
Find academic papers related to your research topic faster. Try Research on Paperpal
3. Understanding Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks: Literature reviews help researchers gain an understanding of the theoretical and conceptual frameworks used in previous studies. This aids in the development of a theoretical framework for the current research.
4. Providing Methodological Insights: Another purpose of literature reviews is that it allows researchers to learn about the methodologies employed in previous studies. This can help in choosing appropriate research methods for the current study and avoiding pitfalls that others may have encountered.
5. Establishing Credibility: A well-conducted literature review demonstrates the researcher’s familiarity with existing scholarship, establishing their credibility and expertise in the field. It also helps in building a solid foundation for the new research.
6. Informing Hypotheses or Research Questions: The literature review guides the formulation of hypotheses or research questions by highlighting relevant findings and areas of uncertainty in existing literature.
Let’s delve deeper with a literature review example: Let’s say your literature review is about the impact of climate change on biodiversity. You might format your literature review into sections such as the effects of climate change on habitat loss and species extinction, phenological changes, and marine biodiversity. Each section would then summarize and analyze relevant studies in those areas, highlighting key findings and identifying gaps in the research. The review would conclude by emphasizing the need for further research on specific aspects of the relationship between climate change and biodiversity. The following literature review template provides a glimpse into the recommended literature review structure and content, demonstrating how research findings are organized around specific themes within a broader topic.
Climate change is a global phenomenon with far-reaching consequences, including significant impacts on biodiversity. This literature review synthesizes key findings from various studies:
Climate change-induced alterations in temperature and precipitation patterns contribute to habitat loss, affecting numerous species (Thomas et al., 2004). The review discusses how these changes increase the risk of extinction, particularly for species with specific habitat requirements.
Observations of range shifts and changes in the timing of biological events (phenology) are documented in response to changing climatic conditions (Parmesan & Yohe, 2003). These shifts affect ecosystems and may lead to mismatches between species and their resources.
The review explores the impact of climate change on marine biodiversity, emphasizing ocean acidification’s threat to coral reefs (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2007). Changes in pH levels negatively affect coral calcification, disrupting the delicate balance of marine ecosystems.
Recognizing the urgency of the situation, the literature review discusses various adaptive strategies adopted by species and conservation efforts aimed at mitigating the impacts of climate change on biodiversity (Hannah et al., 2007). It emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary approaches for effective conservation planning.
Strengthen your literature review with factual insights. Try Research on Paperpal for free!
Writing a literature review involves summarizing and synthesizing existing research on a particular topic. A good literature review format should include the following elements.
Introduction: The introduction sets the stage for your literature review, providing context and introducing the main focus of your review.
Body: The body of the literature review is where you provide a comprehensive analysis of existing literature, grouping studies based on themes, methodologies, or other relevant criteria.
Write and Cite as yo u go with Paperpal Research. Start now for free!
Conclusion: The conclusion of your literature review should summarize the main findings, highlight the contributions of the review, and suggest avenues for future research.
Conducting a literature review is an essential step in research that involves reviewing and analyzing existing literature on a specific topic. It’s important to know how to do a literature review effectively, so here are the steps to follow: 1
Whether you’re exploring a new research field or finding new angles to develop an existing topic, sifting through hundreds of papers can take more time than you have to spare. But what if you could find science-backed insights with verified citations in seconds? That’s the power of Paperpal’s new Research feature!
Paperpal, an AI writing assistant, integrates powerful academic search capabilities within its writing platform. With the Research | Cite feature, you get 100% factual insights, with citations backed by 250M+ verified research articles, directly within your writing interface. It also allows you auto-cite references in 10,000+ styles and save relevant references in your Citation Library. By eliminating the need to switch tabs to find answers to all your research questions, Paperpal saves time and helps you stay focused on your writing.
Here’s how to use the Research feature:
The literature review sample and detailed advice on writing and conducting a review will help you produce a well-structured report. But remember that a good literature review is an ongoing process, and it may be necessary to revisit and update it as your research progresses. By combining effortless research with an easy citation process, Paperpal Research streamlines the literature review process and empowers you to write faster and with more confidence. Try Paperpal Research now and see for yourself.
A literature review is a critical and comprehensive analysis of existing literature (published and unpublished works) on a specific topic or research question and provides a synthesis of the current state of knowledge in a particular field. A well-conducted literature review is crucial for researchers to build upon existing knowledge, avoid duplication of efforts, and contribute to the advancement of their field. It also helps researchers situate their work within a broader context and facilitates the development of a sound theoretical and conceptual framework for their studies.
Literature review is a crucial component of research writing, providing a solid background for a research paper’s investigation. The aim is to keep professionals up to date by providing an understanding of ongoing developments within a specific field, including research methods, and experimental techniques used in that field, and present that knowledge in the form of a written report. Also, the depth and breadth of the literature review emphasizes the credibility of the scholar in his or her field.
Before writing a literature review, it’s essential to undertake several preparatory steps to ensure that your review is well-researched, organized, and focused. This includes choosing a topic of general interest to you and doing exploratory research on that topic, writing an annotated bibliography, and noting major points, especially those that relate to the position you have taken on the topic.
Literature reviews and academic research papers are essential components of scholarly work but serve different purposes within the academic realm. 3 A literature review aims to provide a foundation for understanding the current state of research on a particular topic, identify gaps or controversies, and lay the groundwork for future research. Therefore, it draws heavily from existing academic sources, including books, journal articles, and other scholarly publications. In contrast, an academic research paper aims to present new knowledge, contribute to the academic discourse, and advance the understanding of a specific research question. Therefore, it involves a mix of existing literature (in the introduction and literature review sections) and original data or findings obtained through research methods.
Literature reviews are essential components of academic and research papers, and various strategies can be employed to conduct them effectively. If you want to know how to write a literature review for a research paper, here are four common approaches that are often used by researchers. Chronological Review: This strategy involves organizing the literature based on the chronological order of publication. It helps to trace the development of a topic over time, showing how ideas, theories, and research have evolved. Thematic Review: Thematic reviews focus on identifying and analyzing themes or topics that cut across different studies. Instead of organizing the literature chronologically, it is grouped by key themes or concepts, allowing for a comprehensive exploration of various aspects of the topic. Methodological Review: This strategy involves organizing the literature based on the research methods employed in different studies. It helps to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of various methodologies and allows the reader to evaluate the reliability and validity of the research findings. Theoretical Review: A theoretical review examines the literature based on the theoretical frameworks used in different studies. This approach helps to identify the key theories that have been applied to the topic and assess their contributions to the understanding of the subject. It’s important to note that these strategies are not mutually exclusive, and a literature review may combine elements of more than one approach. The choice of strategy depends on the research question, the nature of the literature available, and the goals of the review. Additionally, other strategies, such as integrative reviews or systematic reviews, may be employed depending on the specific requirements of the research.
The literature review format can vary depending on the specific publication guidelines. However, there are some common elements and structures that are often followed. Here is a general guideline for the format of a literature review: Introduction: Provide an overview of the topic. Define the scope and purpose of the literature review. State the research question or objective. Body: Organize the literature by themes, concepts, or chronology. Critically analyze and evaluate each source. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the studies. Highlight any methodological limitations or biases. Identify patterns, connections, or contradictions in the existing research. Conclusion: Summarize the key points discussed in the literature review. Highlight the research gap. Address the research question or objective stated in the introduction. Highlight the contributions of the review and suggest directions for future research.
Both annotated bibliographies and literature reviews involve the examination of scholarly sources. While annotated bibliographies focus on individual sources with brief annotations, literature reviews provide a more in-depth, integrated, and comprehensive analysis of existing literature on a specific topic. The key differences are as follows:
Annotated Bibliography | Literature Review | |
Purpose | List of citations of books, articles, and other sources with a brief description (annotation) of each source. | Comprehensive and critical analysis of existing literature on a specific topic. |
Focus | Summary and evaluation of each source, including its relevance, methodology, and key findings. | Provides an overview of the current state of knowledge on a particular subject and identifies gaps, trends, and patterns in existing literature. |
Structure | Each citation is followed by a concise paragraph (annotation) that describes the source’s content, methodology, and its contribution to the topic. | The literature review is organized thematically or chronologically and involves a synthesis of the findings from different sources to build a narrative or argument. |
Length | Typically 100-200 words | Length of literature review ranges from a few pages to several chapters |
Independence | Each source is treated separately, with less emphasis on synthesizing the information across sources. | The writer synthesizes information from multiple sources to present a cohesive overview of the topic. |
References
Paperpal is a comprehensive AI writing toolkit that helps students and researchers achieve 2x the writing in half the time. It leverages 22+ years of STM experience and insights from millions of research articles to provide in-depth academic writing, language editing, and submission readiness support to help you write better, faster.
Get accurate academic translations, rewriting support, grammar checks, vocabulary suggestions, and generative AI assistance that delivers human precision at machine speed. Try for free or upgrade to Paperpal Prime starting at US$19 a month to access premium features, including consistency, plagiarism, and 30+ submission readiness checks to help you succeed.
Experience the future of academic writing – Sign up to Paperpal and start writing for free!
Self-plagiarism in research: what it is and how to avoid it, you may also like, academic integrity vs academic dishonesty: types & examples, dissertation printing and binding | types & comparison , what is a dissertation preface definition and examples , the ai revolution: authors’ role in upholding academic..., the future of academia: how ai tools are..., how to write a research proposal: (with examples..., how to write your research paper in apa..., how to choose a dissertation topic, how to write a phd research proposal, how to write an academic paragraph (step-by-step guide).
A literature review surveys prior research published in books, scholarly articles, and any other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works in relation to the research problem being investigated. Literature reviews are designed to provide an overview of sources you have used in researching a particular topic and to demonstrate to your readers how your research fits within existing scholarship about the topic.
Fink, Arlene. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper . Fourth edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2014.
A literature review may consist of simply a summary of key sources, but in the social sciences, a literature review usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis, often within specific conceptual categories . A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information in a way that informs how you are planning to investigate a research problem. The analytical features of a literature review might:
Given this, the purpose of a literature review is to:
Fink, Arlene. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005; Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998; Jesson, Jill. Doing Your Literature Review: Traditional and Systematic Techniques . Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2011; Knopf, Jeffrey W. "Doing a Literature Review." PS: Political Science and Politics 39 (January 2006): 127-132; Ridley, Diana. The Literature Review: A Step-by-Step Guide for Students . 2nd ed. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2012.
Types of Literature Reviews
It is important to think of knowledge in a given field as consisting of three layers. First, there are the primary studies that researchers conduct and publish. Second are the reviews of those studies that summarize and offer new interpretations built from and often extending beyond the primary studies. Third, there are the perceptions, conclusions, opinion, and interpretations that are shared informally among scholars that become part of the body of epistemological traditions within the field.
In composing a literature review, it is important to note that it is often this third layer of knowledge that is cited as "true" even though it often has only a loose relationship to the primary studies and secondary literature reviews. Given this, while literature reviews are designed to provide an overview and synthesis of pertinent sources you have explored, there are a number of approaches you could adopt depending upon the type of analysis underpinning your study.
Argumentative Review This form examines literature selectively in order to support or refute an argument, deeply embedded assumption, or philosophical problem already established in the literature. The purpose is to develop a body of literature that establishes a contrarian viewpoint. Given the value-laden nature of some social science research [e.g., educational reform; immigration control], argumentative approaches to analyzing the literature can be a legitimate and important form of discourse. However, note that they can also introduce problems of bias when they are used to make summary claims of the sort found in systematic reviews [see below].
Integrative Review Considered a form of research that reviews, critiques, and synthesizes representative literature on a topic in an integrated way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic are generated. The body of literature includes all studies that address related or identical hypotheses or research problems. A well-done integrative review meets the same standards as primary research in regard to clarity, rigor, and replication. This is the most common form of review in the social sciences.
Historical Review Few things rest in isolation from historical precedent. Historical literature reviews focus on examining research throughout a period of time, often starting with the first time an issue, concept, theory, phenomena emerged in the literature, then tracing its evolution within the scholarship of a discipline. The purpose is to place research in a historical context to show familiarity with state-of-the-art developments and to identify the likely directions for future research.
Methodological Review A review does not always focus on what someone said [findings], but how they came about saying what they say [method of analysis]. Reviewing methods of analysis provides a framework of understanding at different levels [i.e. those of theory, substantive fields, research approaches, and data collection and analysis techniques], how researchers draw upon a wide variety of knowledge ranging from the conceptual level to practical documents for use in fieldwork in the areas of ontological and epistemological consideration, quantitative and qualitative integration, sampling, interviewing, data collection, and data analysis. This approach helps highlight ethical issues which you should be aware of and consider as you go through your own study.
Systematic Review This form consists of an overview of existing evidence pertinent to a clearly formulated research question, which uses pre-specified and standardized methods to identify and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect, report, and analyze data from the studies that are included in the review. The goal is to deliberately document, critically evaluate, and summarize scientifically all of the research about a clearly defined research problem . Typically it focuses on a very specific empirical question, often posed in a cause-and-effect form, such as "To what extent does A contribute to B?" This type of literature review is primarily applied to examining prior research studies in clinical medicine and allied health fields, but it is increasingly being used in the social sciences.
Theoretical Review The purpose of this form is to examine the corpus of theory that has accumulated in regard to an issue, concept, theory, phenomena. The theoretical literature review helps to establish what theories already exist, the relationships between them, to what degree the existing theories have been investigated, and to develop new hypotheses to be tested. Often this form is used to help establish a lack of appropriate theories or reveal that current theories are inadequate for explaining new or emerging research problems. The unit of analysis can focus on a theoretical concept or a whole theory or framework.
NOTE: Most often the literature review will incorporate some combination of types. For example, a review that examines literature supporting or refuting an argument, assumption, or philosophical problem related to the research problem will also need to include writing supported by sources that establish the history of these arguments in the literature.
Baumeister, Roy F. and Mark R. Leary. "Writing Narrative Literature Reviews." Review of General Psychology 1 (September 1997): 311-320; Mark R. Fink, Arlene. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper . 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005; Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998; Kennedy, Mary M. "Defining a Literature." Educational Researcher 36 (April 2007): 139-147; Petticrew, Mark and Helen Roberts. Systematic Reviews in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide . Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2006; Torracro, Richard. "Writing Integrative Literature Reviews: Guidelines and Examples." Human Resource Development Review 4 (September 2005): 356-367; Rocco, Tonette S. and Maria S. Plakhotnik. "Literature Reviews, Conceptual Frameworks, and Theoretical Frameworks: Terms, Functions, and Distinctions." Human Ressource Development Review 8 (March 2008): 120-130; Sutton, Anthea. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review . Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, 2016.
I. Thinking About Your Literature Review
The structure of a literature review should include the following in support of understanding the research problem :
The critical evaluation of each work should consider :
II. Development of the Literature Review
Four Basic Stages of Writing 1. Problem formulation -- which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues? 2. Literature search -- finding materials relevant to the subject being explored. 3. Data evaluation -- determining which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic. 4. Analysis and interpretation -- discussing the findings and conclusions of pertinent literature.
Consider the following issues before writing the literature review: Clarify If your assignment is not specific about what form your literature review should take, seek clarification from your professor by asking these questions: 1. Roughly how many sources would be appropriate to include? 2. What types of sources should I review (books, journal articles, websites; scholarly versus popular sources)? 3. Should I summarize, synthesize, or critique sources by discussing a common theme or issue? 4. Should I evaluate the sources in any way beyond evaluating how they relate to understanding the research problem? 5. Should I provide subheadings and other background information, such as definitions and/or a history? Find Models Use the exercise of reviewing the literature to examine how authors in your discipline or area of interest have composed their literature review sections. Read them to get a sense of the types of themes you might want to look for in your own research or to identify ways to organize your final review. The bibliography or reference section of sources you've already read, such as required readings in the course syllabus, are also excellent entry points into your own research. Narrow the Topic The narrower your topic, the easier it will be to limit the number of sources you need to read in order to obtain a good survey of relevant resources. Your professor will probably not expect you to read everything that's available about the topic, but you'll make the act of reviewing easier if you first limit scope of the research problem. A good strategy is to begin by searching the USC Libraries Catalog for recent books about the topic and review the table of contents for chapters that focuses on specific issues. You can also review the indexes of books to find references to specific issues that can serve as the focus of your research. For example, a book surveying the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may include a chapter on the role Egypt has played in mediating the conflict, or look in the index for the pages where Egypt is mentioned in the text. Consider Whether Your Sources are Current Some disciplines require that you use information that is as current as possible. This is particularly true in disciplines in medicine and the sciences where research conducted becomes obsolete very quickly as new discoveries are made. However, when writing a review in the social sciences, a survey of the history of the literature may be required. In other words, a complete understanding the research problem requires you to deliberately examine how knowledge and perspectives have changed over time. Sort through other current bibliographies or literature reviews in the field to get a sense of what your discipline expects. You can also use this method to explore what is considered by scholars to be a "hot topic" and what is not.
III. Ways to Organize Your Literature Review
Chronology of Events If your review follows the chronological method, you could write about the materials according to when they were published. This approach should only be followed if a clear path of research building on previous research can be identified and that these trends follow a clear chronological order of development. For example, a literature review that focuses on continuing research about the emergence of German economic power after the fall of the Soviet Union. By Publication Order your sources by publication chronology, then, only if the order demonstrates a more important trend. For instance, you could order a review of literature on environmental studies of brown fields if the progression revealed, for example, a change in the soil collection practices of the researchers who wrote and/or conducted the studies. Thematic [“conceptual categories”] A thematic literature review is the most common approach to summarizing prior research in the social and behavioral sciences. Thematic reviews are organized around a topic or issue, rather than the progression of time, although the progression of time may still be incorporated into a thematic review. For example, a review of the Internet’s impact on American presidential politics could focus on the development of online political satire. While the study focuses on one topic, the Internet’s impact on American presidential politics, it would still be organized chronologically reflecting technological developments in media. The difference in this example between a "chronological" and a "thematic" approach is what is emphasized the most: themes related to the role of the Internet in presidential politics. Note that more authentic thematic reviews tend to break away from chronological order. A review organized in this manner would shift between time periods within each section according to the point being made. Methodological A methodological approach focuses on the methods utilized by the researcher. For the Internet in American presidential politics project, one methodological approach would be to look at cultural differences between the portrayal of American presidents on American, British, and French websites. Or the review might focus on the fundraising impact of the Internet on a particular political party. A methodological scope will influence either the types of documents in the review or the way in which these documents are discussed.
Other Sections of Your Literature Review Once you've decided on the organizational method for your literature review, the sections you need to include in the paper should be easy to figure out because they arise from your organizational strategy. In other words, a chronological review would have subsections for each vital time period; a thematic review would have subtopics based upon factors that relate to the theme or issue. However, sometimes you may need to add additional sections that are necessary for your study, but do not fit in the organizational strategy of the body. What other sections you include in the body is up to you. However, only include what is necessary for the reader to locate your study within the larger scholarship about the research problem.
Here are examples of other sections, usually in the form of a single paragraph, you may need to include depending on the type of review you write:
IV. Writing Your Literature Review
Once you've settled on how to organize your literature review, you're ready to write each section. When writing your review, keep in mind these issues.
Use Evidence A literature review section is, in this sense, just like any other academic research paper. Your interpretation of the available sources must be backed up with evidence [citations] that demonstrates that what you are saying is valid. Be Selective Select only the most important points in each source to highlight in the review. The type of information you choose to mention should relate directly to the research problem, whether it is thematic, methodological, or chronological. Related items that provide additional information, but that are not key to understanding the research problem, can be included in a list of further readings . Use Quotes Sparingly Some short quotes are appropriate if you want to emphasize a point, or if what an author stated cannot be easily paraphrased. Sometimes you may need to quote certain terminology that was coined by the author, is not common knowledge, or taken directly from the study. Do not use extensive quotes as a substitute for using your own words in reviewing the literature. Summarize and Synthesize Remember to summarize and synthesize your sources within each thematic paragraph as well as throughout the review. Recapitulate important features of a research study, but then synthesize it by rephrasing the study's significance and relating it to your own work and the work of others. Keep Your Own Voice While the literature review presents others' ideas, your voice [the writer's] should remain front and center. For example, weave references to other sources into what you are writing but maintain your own voice by starting and ending the paragraph with your own ideas and wording. Use Caution When Paraphrasing When paraphrasing a source that is not your own, be sure to represent the author's information or opinions accurately and in your own words. Even when paraphrasing an author’s work, you still must provide a citation to that work.
V. Common Mistakes to Avoid
These are the most common mistakes made in reviewing social science research literature.
Cook, Kathleen E. and Elise Murowchick. “Do Literature Review Skills Transfer from One Course to Another?” Psychology Learning and Teaching 13 (March 2014): 3-11; Fink, Arlene. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper . 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005; Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998; Jesson, Jill. Doing Your Literature Review: Traditional and Systematic Techniques . London: SAGE, 2011; Literature Review Handout. Online Writing Center. Liberty University; Literature Reviews. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Rebecca Frels. Seven Steps to a Comprehensive Literature Review: A Multimodal and Cultural Approach . Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2016; Ridley, Diana. The Literature Review: A Step-by-Step Guide for Students . 2nd ed. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2012; Randolph, Justus J. “A Guide to Writing the Dissertation Literature Review." Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation. vol. 14, June 2009; Sutton, Anthea. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review . Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, 2016; Taylor, Dena. The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Writing a Literature Review. Academic Skills Centre. University of Canberra.
Break Out of Your Disciplinary Box!
Thinking interdisciplinarily about a research problem can be a rewarding exercise in applying new ideas, theories, or concepts to an old problem. For example, what might cultural anthropologists say about the continuing conflict in the Middle East? In what ways might geographers view the need for better distribution of social service agencies in large cities than how social workers might study the issue? You don’t want to substitute a thorough review of core research literature in your discipline for studies conducted in other fields of study. However, particularly in the social sciences, thinking about research problems from multiple vectors is a key strategy for finding new solutions to a problem or gaining a new perspective. Consult with a librarian about identifying research databases in other disciplines; almost every field of study has at least one comprehensive database devoted to indexing its research literature.
Frodeman, Robert. The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity . New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Don't Just Review for Content!
While conducting a review of the literature, maximize the time you devote to writing this part of your paper by thinking broadly about what you should be looking for and evaluating. Review not just what scholars are saying, but how are they saying it. Some questions to ask:
When you begin to write your literature review section, you'll be glad you dug deeper into how the research was designed and constructed because it establishes a means for developing more substantial analysis and interpretation of the research problem.
Hart, Chris. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1 998.
When Do I Know I Can Stop Looking and Move On?
Here are several strategies you can utilize to assess whether you've thoroughly reviewed the literature:
Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J. and Rebecca Frels. Seven Steps to a Comprehensive Literature Review: A Multimodal and Cultural Approach . Los Angeles, CA: Sage, 2016; Sutton, Anthea. Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review . Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, 2016.
The purpose of a literature review is to:
VIDEO: What is the role of a literature review in research? What's it mean to "review" the literature? Get the big picture of what to expect as part of the process. This video is published under a Creative Commons 3.0 BY-NC-SA US license. License, credits, and contact information can be found here: https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/litreview/
A literature review is an integrated analysis -- not just a summary-- of scholarly writings and other relevant evidence related directly to your research question. That is, it represents a synthesis of the evidence that provides background information on your topic and shows a association between the evidence and your research question.
A literature review may be a stand alone work or the introduction to a larger research paper, depending on the assignment. Rely heavily on the guidelines your instructor has given you.
Why is it important?
A literature review is important because it:
APA Style Blog - for those harder to find answers
Your literature review should be guided by your central research question. The literature represents background and research developments related to a specific research question, interpreted and analyzed by you in a synthesized way.
How many studies do you need to look at? How comprehensive should it be? How many years should it cover?
Make a list of the databases you will search.
Where to find databases:
Some questions to help you analyze the research:
Tips:
People often treat writing the literature review in an academic paper as a formality. Usually, this means simply listing various studies vaguely related to their work and leaving it at that.
But this overlooks how important the literature review is to a well-written experimental report or research paper. As such, we thought we’d take a moment to go over what a literature review should do and why you should give it the attention it deserves.
Common in the social and physical sciences, but also sometimes required in the humanities, a literature review is a summary of past research in your subject area.
Sometimes this is a standalone investigation of how an idea or field of inquiry has developed over time. However, more usually it’s the part of an academic paper, thesis or dissertation that sets out the background against which a study takes place.
There are several reasons why we do this.
In a college paper, you can use a literature review to demonstrate your understanding of the subject matter. This means identifying, summarizing and critically assessing past research that is relevant to your own work.
The literature review also plays a big role in justifying your study and setting your research question . This is because examining past research allows you to identify gaps in the literature, which you can then attempt to fill or address with your own work.
Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.
It can help to think of the literature review as the foundations for your study, since the rest of your work will build upon the ideas and existing research you discuss therein.
A crucial part of this is formulating a theoretical framework , which comprises the concepts and theories that your work is based upon and against which its success will be judged.
Conducting a literature review before beginning research also lets you see how similar studies have been conducted in the past. By examining the strengths and weaknesses of existing research, you can thus make sure you adopt the most appropriate methods, data sources and analytical techniques for your own work.
The significance of any results you achieve will depend to some extent on how they compare to those reported in the existing literature. When you come to write up your findings, your literature review will therefore provide a crucial point of reference.
If your results replicate past research, for instance, you can say that your work supports existing theories. If your results are different, though, you’ll need to discuss why and whether the difference is important.
Post A New Comment
5-minute read
Promoting a brand means sharing valuable insights to connect more deeply with your audience, and...
6-minute read
If you’re seeking funding to support your charitable endeavors as a nonprofit organization, you’ll need...
9-minute read
Is your content getting noticed? Capturing and maintaining an audience’s attention is a challenge when...
8-minute read
Are you looking to enhance engagement and captivate your audience through your professional documents? Interactive...
7-minute read
Voice search optimization is rapidly shaping the digital landscape, requiring content professionals to adapt their...
4-minute read
Are you a creative freelancer looking to make a lasting impression on potential clients or...
What is the purpose of a literature review.
There are several reasons to conduct a literature review at the beginning of a research project:
Writing the literature review shows your reader how your work relates to existing research and what new insights it will contribute.
A rhetorical tautology is the repetition of an idea of concept using different words.
Rhetorical tautologies occur when additional words are used to convey a meaning that has already been expressed or implied. For example, the phrase “armed gunman” is a tautology because a “gunman” is by definition “armed.”
A logical tautology is a statement that is always true because it includes all logical possibilities.
Logical tautologies often take the form of “either/or” statements (e.g., “It will rain, or it will not rain”) or employ circular reasoning (e.g., “she is untrustworthy because she can’t be trusted”).
You may have seen both “appendices” or “appendixes” as pluralizations of “ appendix .” Either spelling can be used, but “appendices” is more common (including in APA Style ). Consistency is key here: make sure you use the same spelling throughout your paper.
The purpose of a lab report is to demonstrate your understanding of the scientific method with a hands-on lab experiment. Course instructors will often provide you with an experimental design and procedure. Your task is to write up how you actually performed the experiment and evaluate the outcome.
In contrast, a research paper requires you to independently develop an original argument. It involves more in-depth research and interpretation of sources and data.
A lab report is usually shorter than a research paper.
The sections of a lab report can vary between scientific fields and course requirements, but it usually contains the following:
A lab report conveys the aim, methods, results, and conclusions of a scientific experiment . Lab reports are commonly assigned in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
The abstract is the very last thing you write. You should only write it after your research is complete, so that you can accurately summarize the entirety of your thesis , dissertation or research paper .
If you’ve gone over the word limit set for your assignment, shorten your sentences and cut repetition and redundancy during the editing process. If you use a lot of long quotes , consider shortening them to just the essentials.
If you need to remove a lot of words, you may have to cut certain passages. Remember that everything in the text should be there to support your argument; look for any information that’s not essential to your point and remove it.
To make this process easier and faster, you can use a paraphrasing tool . With this tool, you can rewrite your text to make it simpler and shorter. If that’s not enough, you can copy-paste your paraphrased text into the summarizer . This tool will distill your text to its core message.
Revising, proofreading, and editing are different stages of the writing process .
The literature review usually comes near the beginning of your thesis or dissertation . After the introduction , it grounds your research in a scholarly field and leads directly to your theoretical framework or methodology .
A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question .
It is often written as part of a thesis, dissertation , or research paper , in order to situate your work in relation to existing knowledge.
Avoid citing sources in your abstract . There are two reasons for this:
There are some circumstances where you might need to mention other sources in an abstract: for example, if your research responds directly to another study or focuses on the work of a single theorist. In general, though, don’t include citations unless absolutely necessary.
An abstract is a concise summary of an academic text (such as a journal article or dissertation ). It serves two main purposes:
Abstracts are often indexed along with keywords on academic databases, so they make your work more easily findable. Since the abstract is the first thing any reader sees, it’s important that it clearly and accurately summarizes the contents of your paper.
In a scientific paper, the methodology always comes after the introduction and before the results , discussion and conclusion . The same basic structure also applies to a thesis, dissertation , or research proposal .
Depending on the length and type of document, you might also include a literature review or theoretical framework before the methodology.
Whether you’re publishing a blog, submitting a research paper , or even just writing an important email, there are a few techniques you can use to make sure it’s error-free:
If you want to be confident that an important text is error-free, it might be worth choosing a professional proofreading service instead.
Editing and proofreading are different steps in the process of revising a text.
Editing comes first, and can involve major changes to content, structure and language. The first stages of editing are often done by authors themselves, while a professional editor makes the final improvements to grammar and style (for example, by improving sentence structure and word choice ).
Proofreading is the final stage of checking a text before it is published or shared. It focuses on correcting minor errors and inconsistencies (for example, in punctuation and capitalization ). Proofreaders often also check for formatting issues, especially in print publishing.
The cost of proofreading depends on the type and length of text, the turnaround time, and the level of services required. Most proofreading companies charge per word or page, while freelancers sometimes charge an hourly rate.
For proofreading alone, which involves only basic corrections of typos and formatting mistakes, you might pay as little as $0.01 per word, but in many cases, your text will also require some level of editing , which costs slightly more.
It’s often possible to purchase combined proofreading and editing services and calculate the price in advance based on your requirements.
There are many different routes to becoming a professional proofreader or editor. The necessary qualifications depend on the field – to be an academic or scientific proofreader, for example, you will need at least a university degree in a relevant subject.
For most proofreading jobs, experience and demonstrated skills are more important than specific qualifications. Often your skills will be tested as part of the application process.
To learn practical proofreading skills, you can choose to take a course with a professional organization such as the Society for Editors and Proofreaders . Alternatively, you can apply to companies that offer specialized on-the-job training programmes, such as the Scribbr Academy .
Want to contact us directly? No problem. We are always here for you.
Our team helps students graduate by offering:
Scribbr specializes in editing study-related documents . We proofread:
Scribbr’s Plagiarism Checker is powered by elements of Turnitin’s Similarity Checker , namely the plagiarism detection software and the Internet Archive and Premium Scholarly Publications content databases .
The add-on AI detector is powered by Scribbr’s proprietary software.
The Scribbr Citation Generator is developed using the open-source Citation Style Language (CSL) project and Frank Bennett’s citeproc-js . It’s the same technology used by dozens of other popular citation tools, including Mendeley and Zotero.
You can find all the citation styles and locales used in the Scribbr Citation Generator in our publicly accessible repository on Github .
What is a literature review.
The literature of a literature review is not made up of novels and short stories and poetry—but is the collection of writing and research that has been produced on a particular topic.
The purpose of the literature review is to give you an overview of a particular topic. Your job is to discover the research that has been done, the major perspectives, and the significant thinkers and writers (experts) who have published on the topic you’re interested in. In other words, it’s a survey of what has been written and argued about your topic.
By the time you complete your literature review you should have written an essay that demonstrates that you:
Thus, a literature review synthesizes your research into an explanation of what is known and what is not known on your topic. If the topic is one from which you want to embark on a major research project, doing a literature review will save you time and help you figure out where you might focus your attention so you don’t duplicate research that has already been done.
Just to be clear: a literature review differs from a research paper in that a literature review is a summary and synthesis of the major arguments and thinking of experts on the topic you’re investigating, whereas a research paper supports a position or an opinion you have developed yourself as a result of your own analysis of a topic.
Another advantage of doing a literature review is that it summarizes the intellectual discussion that has been going on over the decades—or centuries—on a specific topic and allows you to join in that conversation (what academics call academic discourse) from a knowledgeable position.
The following presentation will provide you with the basic steps to follow as you work to complete a literature review.
" Literature Reviews " by Excelsior Online Writing Lab is licensed under CC BY 4.0 International
600 Mt. Pleasant Ave
Providence, RI 02908
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License unless otherwise noted.
©2024 Rhode Island College. All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy
Welcome to the new OASIS website! We have academic skills, library skills, math and statistics support, and writing resources all together in one new home.
The role of the literature review.
Your literature review gives readers an understanding of the scholarly research on your topic.
In your literature review you will:
Be aware that the literature review is an iterative process. As you read and write initial drafts, you will find new threads and complementary themes, at which point you will return to search, find out about these new themes, and incorporate them into your review.
The purpose of this guide is to help you through the literature review process. Take some time to look over the resources in order to become familiar with them. The tabs on the left side of this page have additional information.
HIDE GUIDE LEVEL BREADCRUMB
Short Video: Research for the Literature Review
(4 min 10 sec) Recorded August 2019 Transcript
To think about the role of the literature review, consider this analogy: pretend that you throw a dinner party for the other researchers working in your topic area. First, you’d need to develop a guest list.
After the party, you describe the evening to a friend. You’ll summarize the evening’s conversation. Perhaps one guest made a comment that sparked a conversation, and then you describe who responded and how the topic evolved. There are other conversations to share, too. This is how you synthesize the themes and developments that you find in your research. Thinking about your literature research this way will help you to present your dinner party (and your literature review) in a lively and engaging way.
Video: How to locate and identify empirical research for your literature review
(6 min 16 sec) Recorded May 2020 Transcript
Here are some useful resources from the Writing Center, the Office of Research and Doctoral Services, and other departments within the Office of Academic Support. Take some time to look at what is available to help you with your capstone/dissertation.
You can watch recorded webinars on the literature review in our Library Webinar Archives .
Departments.
Walden University is a member of Adtalem Global Education, Inc. www.adtalem.com Walden University is certified to operate by SCHEV © 2024 Walden University LLC. All rights reserved.
A literature review basically has three functions:
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders volume 25 , Article number: 718 ( 2024 ) Cite this article
Metrics details
To systematically review the clinical efficacy (pain, function, quality of life) and safety of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in the treatment of frozen shoulder through meta-analysis, and provide evidence-based medical evidence for the effectiveness of PRP in the treatment of frozen shoulder.
A search was conducted on international databases (Pubmed, Web of science, Embase) and Chinese databases (CNKI, Wanfang, VIP) to search the clinical studies on the efficacy of platelet-rich plasma in treating frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis/periarthritis/50 shoulder) and their corresponding references published from inception until January 2024. Thoroughly excluded literature not meeting the predetermined inclusion criteria, extracted relevant data from the literature, and input it into RevMan5.4 for meta-analysis.
This study ultimately included 14 RCTs, with a total of 1024 patients. The results showed that PRP has significant advantages compared with control groups in VAS (mean difference (MD) =-0.38, 95% confidence interval( CI ) (-0.73, -0.03), P = 0.03), UCLA (MD = 3.31, 95% CI (1.02,5.60), P = 0.005), DASH ( MD = -4.94,95% CI (-9.34, -0.53), P = 0.03), SPADI (SPADI Total: MD =-16.87, 95% CI (-22.84, -10.91), P < 0.00001; SPADI Pain: MD =-5.38, 95% CI (-7.80, -2.97), P < 0.0001; SPADI Disability: MD =-11.00, 95% CI (-13.61,-8.39), P < 0.00001), and the active and passive Range of Motion (active flexion: MD = 12.70, 95% CI (7.44, 17.95), P < 0.00001; passive flexion: MD = 9.47, 95% CI(3.80, 15.14), P = 0.001; active extension: MD = 3.45, 95% CI(2.39, 4.50), P < 0.00001; active abduction: MD = 13.54, 95% CI(8.42, 18.67), P < 0.00001; passive abduction: MD = 14.26, 95% CI (5.97, 22.56), P = 0.0008; active internal rotation: MD = 5.16, 95% CI (1.84, 8.48), P = 0.002; passive internal rotation: MD = 3.65, 95% CI(1.15, 6.15), P = 0.004; active external rotation: MD = 10.50, 95% CI(5.47, 15.53), P < 0.0001; passive external rotation: MD = 6.00, 95% CI (1.82, 10.19), P = 0.005) except passive extension ( MD = 2.25, 95% CI (-0.77, 5.28), P = 0.14). In terms of safety, most studies reported no adverse effects, and only one study reported common complications of joint puncture such as swelling and pain after treatment in both PRP and control groups. Previous studies have shown a risk of osteonecrosis caused by corticosteroids. Therefore, the safety of PRP treatment is more reliable.
The results showed that PRP was more durable and safer than corticosteroids and other control groups in the treatment of frozen shoulder.
Systematic review.
PROSPERO CRD42022359444, date of registration: 22-09-2022.
Peer Review reports
Among orthopedic diseases, frozen shoulder (FS) is one of the most prevalent. The term “fifty shoulder” was coined since it is most prevalent in middle-aged and older women over the age of 50 [ 1 ]. The range of motion in the affected shoulder is significantly restricted as a result of the condition, which also causes intense and persistent pain that interferes with sleep and lowers quality of life. The disease’s etiology and pathophysiology are yet unknown [ 2 ], and there are no established treatment protocols. The majority of available treatments are palliative and symptomatic [ 3 ], such as pain alleviation (oral or topical analgesics, block therapy, etc.) and joint motion restoration(manual release and arthroscopic release of shoulder joint) [ 4 ]. There is yet no recognized effective treatment for the pathophysiology of frozen shoulder, which can be time-consuming and the effect is limited [ 5 ]. In addition, these treatments have great adverse reactions. Oral painkillers can easily lead to gastrointestinal injury [ 6 ], oral or injected corticosteroids have the risk of osteonecrosis [ 7 , 8 ], and the bursa adhesion is easily relapsed by manual or arthroscopic release [ 9 ]. Therefore, in order to achieve therapeutic goals, it is crucial to design a successful novel therapeutic strategy.
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a concentrated plasma product derived from platelets through the centrifugation of whole blood [ 10 ]. It is rich in anti-inflammatory factors and growth factors and can stimulate the body to increase their secretion. The growth factors present in PRP can promote cell proliferation, repair, and collagen synthesis. Various studies have demonstrated that PRP can enhance cell vitality, promote the proliferation and migration of tendon stem cells [ 11 , 12 , 13 ], induce the proliferation and recruitment of mesenchymal stem cells, and facilitate the repair and reconstruction of muscle and soft tissue [ 14 ]. This ultimately improves the function of tissues and organs. PRP also shows promise in the treatment of inflammatory responses [ 15 ]. It has been found to inhibit inflammatory pathways, such as IL-1β and NF-κB [ 16 , 17 ], thereby reducing the expression of inflammatory factors and effectively inhibiting inflammation [ 18 ]. Clinical applications of PRP have shown remarkable efficacy, particularly in the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries and inflammation [ 18 , 19 , 20 ]. As a shoulder disease that is easily confused with frozen shoulder, meta-analyses generally support the efficacy and safety of PRP in treating rotator cuff injuries, as it effectively reduces pain and improves rotator cuff function [ 21 , 22 ]. Moreover, numerous clinical and experimental studies have found no evidence of any potential hazardous side effects [ 23 , 24 ], indicating that PRP is a safe form of autologous therapy that has gained popularity in recent years.
The purpose of this study was to offer evidence for the continued and widespread clinical use of PRP for FS by conducting a thorough analysis and evaluation of the clinical efficacy and safety of PRP in the treatment of FS using meta-analysis. It is hypothesized that the efficacy and safety of PRP in the treatment of FS is better than that of the existing conventional control group.
The study was conducted by our pre-registered protocol on PROSPERO and the guidance of the PRISMA statement. The PROSPERO registration number for this study is CRD42022359444.
Inclusion criteria: (1) Study type: randomized controlled trial (RCTs); (2) Study population: patients with a diagnosis of frozen shoulder (frozen shoulder/ adhesive capsulitis) who have not undergone surgery. The clinical diagnosis of frozen shoulder was based on Shaffer’s criteria [ 25 ]; (3) Intervention: articular injection PRP was compared with other treatments (blank control, corticosteroid, normal saline, arthrolysis, ultrasonic physiotherapy, etc.); (4) Outcome indicators: the following study indicators included at least one or more of the following (visual analog score (VAS) of pain, Range of Motion (ROM), The University of California at Los Angeles shoulder rating scale (UCLA), Shoulder Pain Disability Index (SPADI), Disability of the Arm, Shoulder Hand Questionnaire (DASH), etc.).
Exclusion criteria: (1) Literature with incomplete data for analysis; (2) Full text not available; (3) Duplicate literature; (4) Non-randomized controlled trial (non-RCT).
Search on PubMed, WOS, Embase, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP by computer. The literature was searched for clinical studies related to the use of PRP in the treatment of frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis/periarthritis/fifty shoulder) from the time of database construction until January 2024. There are not any language restrictions. The search strategy uses PubMed and Web of Science(WOS) as an example, as shown in supplementary Appendix 1 .
The literature obtained after the search was imported into Endnote and duplicates were first removed using Endnote. Two researchers performed independent screening according to the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria (Ma and Song), read the titles and abstracts of the de-duplicated literature to initially exclude non-RCT studies, and then acquired and read the full text of the remaining literature. Data information for the included literature was then extracted. The information extracted included basic characteristics of each literature (author’s name, country, year of publication, etc.), basic characteristics of the cases (intervention and control measures, sample size, patient sex ratio, age, follow-up time, etc.), primary and secondary outcomes of the trials, conclusions of the trials, quality assessment methods, etc. Disagreements were assessed by a third investigator and consensus finalization was reached. Once extracted without disagreement, the data were entered into Rev Man 5.4 software for Meta-analysis.
The quality of the literature for RCTs was evaluated according to the Cochrane Collaboration’s Randomized Controlled Trial tool [ 26 ]. Each RCT study screened for inclusion was assessed according to seven characteristics (random sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding of participants and personnel, blinding of outcome assessment, incomplete outcome data, selective reporting, and other bias) and was rated as low, unclear or high risk of bias. When each item was rated as ‘low risk’, the study was considered to have an overall low risk of bias, and when 1 or 2 items were categorized as ‘high risk’ or ‘unclear risk’ the study was considered to be at medium risk of bias and the literature was considered to be at high risk of bias if there were > 2 items or > 3 items of “high risk” plus “unclear risk" [ 27 ]. Funnel plots were used to analyze whether publication bias existed in the included literature.
Baseline data were subtracted from the data of each follow-up to obtain the change values of all outcome indicators, and then the corresponding change values of each follow-up period were imported into RevMan 5.4 software for meta-analysis of the data. Relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were selected for dichotomous variables. For the continuous variables, Mean difference (MD) and 95% CI were selected. In terms of heterogeneity, Chi-square test and I² test were selected for evaluation. When I² ≤ 50% and P ≥ 0.1, shows the heterogeneity was low, then the fixed effect model should be selected. When the I² > 50% and the P < 0.1, shows the heterogeneity is high, if the cause of heterogeneity could not be found, a random effects model was selected for analysis. As the control groups of the included studies differed in their treatment modalities, a random effects model was used for all analyses for a relatively conservative analysis. Due to the different follow-up time nodes of various studies, the follow-up time nodes were distinguished in this study according to the development trend of frozen shoulder disease course, the follow-up time was divided into early follow-up (≤ 4 weeks), mid-term follow-up (4–24 weeks), and late follow-up (≥ 24 weeks), all of the follow-up data of the corresponding periods were included in the analysis. Differences were statistically significant when P < 0.05.
A total of 1063 literatures were retrieved according to the search strategy. After initial screening by title, abstract, the remaining 31 publications, downloaded and carefully read in full, excluded 17 publications (6 with incomplete data [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ], 2 with unavailable full text [ 34 , 35 ], 7 cohort studies [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ] and 2 before-after studies [ 43 , 44 ] and finally included 14 RCTs 1, 5, 45–56 . A flow chart of the literature screening is presented in Fig. 1 .
Flow diagram of the selection process
A total of 1024 patients were enrolled in the studies, of which 515 were treated with PRP, 15 with normal saline injection, 449 with articular injection corticosteroids (AICS), 20 with blank control, and 25 with arthrolysis. The basic characteristics of the included literature is presented in Table 1 .
6 of the included studies 1, 46, 51–53, 55 describe only randomization, without a specific description of the randomization method, and are defined as “unclear risk”; 11 studies 1, 5, 45, 46, 48, 50–53, 55, 56 do not describe allocation concealment and are defined as “high risk “; for blinding, only 7 studies 5, 47–51, 54 specified blinded measures, the rest of the literature 1, 45, 46, 52, 53, 55, 56 defined as “high risk”; for other biases(conflict of interest, limitation, etc.), 3 studies [ 45 , 51 , 53 ] were not described and defined as “unclear risk” and 1 study [ 46 ] for which the author was a journal editorial board member, was defined as “high risk”; all outcome indicators were reported in full in the literature, with no selective reporting, refer to Fig. 2 .
Quality assessment results of the RCT studies
The follow-up time was divided into early follow-up (≤ 4 weeks), mid-term follow-up (4–24 weeks), and late follow-up (≥ 24 weeks), all of the follow-up data of the corresponding periods were included in the analysis. In order to evaluate the effect of different control measures and different follow-up time on the analysis results, subgroup analysis was performed for different control measures and different follow-up time.
A total of 12 RCTs 1, 32, 45, 47–54, 56 used VAS scores as an outcome indicator, but one article [ 47 ] delivered a VAS score that was appraised differently from the rest of the literature and was not appropriate for the analysis. The fact that PRP is superior to CS in improving VAS was also corroborated by one other study [ 32 ]. However, this study was excluded since it only contained graphs and lacked specific data ( Mean ± SD, Median(IQR) ), which prevented meta-analysis. Therefore, VAS scores of the remaining 10 studies were analyzed. Although the effectiveness of the early and intermediate follow-up PRP was not substantially different from that of the control group(≤ 4week: MD = 0.10, 95% CI(-0.27, 0.47), P = 0.58; 4-24week: MD =-0.46, 95% CI (-0.98, 0.05), P = 0.08), the analysis revealed that the PRP group was significantly better than the control group in VAS improvement at the late stage (≥ 24 weeks: MD =-1.26, 95% CI(-1.79, -0.73), P <0.00001), and that the PRP group was also significantly superior than the control group in VAS improvement overall( MD =-0.38, 95% CI (-0.73, -0.03), P = 0.03) (see Fig. 3 .).
Subgroup analysis of VAS in the three follow-up periods was conducted according to the differences of the control group. The results showed that although the improvement of VAS in the PRP group was stronger than that in the non-steroid control group during the early and middle follow-up compared with CS, this advantage was not statistically significant(≤ 4week: CS ( MD = 0.17, 95% CI (-0.21, 0.56), P = 0.38); Others ( MD =-0.48, 95% CI (-1.45, 0.50), P = 0.34)); (4-24week: CS( MD =-0.42, 95% CI)-0.99, 0.15), P = 0.15); Others ( MD =-0.58, 95% CI (-1.22, 0.05), P = 0.07)). The analysis of late follow-up showed that in terms of VAS improvement, the advantage of the PRP group over the steroid group was more pronounced than that of the non-steroid group, and the pooled results also showed a statistically significant advantage for PRP versus all control groups (≥ 24week: CS ( MD =-1.68, 95% CI (-2.06, -1.31), P <0.00001); Others ( MD =-0.22, 95% CI(-0.72, 0.28), P = 0.39); Total( MD =-1.26, 95% CI(-1.79,-0.73), P <0.00001)).
According to the overall analysis of follow-up time, it can be seen that with the increase of follow-up time, the therapeutic advantage of PRP has a gradually increasing trend. As is shown in Fig. 3 . and Supplemental Table 2 .
Forest plot for meta-analysis of VAS score
A total of six RCTs 47–51, 53 used post-treatment shoulder mobility in all directions as an outcome index to assess the recovery of shoulder function in patients after treatment, including 10 indicators of active and passive activity in 5 directions, such as flexion, extension, abduction, internal rotation and external rotation.
Analysis of the data showed that, with the exception of passive extension ( MD = 2.25, 95% CI (-0.77, 5.28), P = 0.14), there was a significant advantage in active and passive shoulder mobility in all directions after treatment in the PRP group compared to the control group (active flexion: MD = 12.70, 95% CI (7.44, 17.95), P < 0.00001; passive flexion: MD = 9.47, 95% CI (3.80, 15.14), P = 0.001; active extension: MD = 3.45, 95% CI (2.39, 4.50), P < 0.00001; active abduction: MD = 13.54, 95% CI (8.42, 18.67), P < 0.00001; passive abduction: MD = 14.26, 95% CI (5.97, 22.56), P = 0.0008; active internal rotation: MD = 5.16, 95% CI (1.84, 8.48), P = 0.002; passive internal rotation: MD = 3.65, 95% CI (1.15, 6.15), P = 0.004; active external rotation: MD = 10.50, 95% CI ( 5.47, 15.53), P < 0.0001; passive external rotation: MD = 6.00, 95% CI (1.82, 10.19), P = 0.005), refer to Fig. 4 . for forest plots (with active flexion as an example). The rest of the results is shown in the Supplemental Table 1 .
Since there was no non-steroid control group for extension, subgroup analysis of the remaining range of motion data in other directions was performed according to a different control approach for each follow-up period. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the PRP group and the control group in the early stage (≤ 4week: passive flexion ( MD = 5.63, 95% CI (-2.50, 13.77), P = 0.17); passive abduction (MD = 9.54, 95% CI (-1.75, 20.82), P = 0.10); active internal rotation (MD = 0.91, 95% CI (-3.48, 5.30), P = 0.68); passive internal rotation (MD = 1.27, 95% CI (-3.09, 5.62), P = 0.57); active external rotation (MD = 4.13, 95% CI ( -1.66, 9.92), P = 0.16); passive external rotation (MD = 2.26, 95% CI (-2.12, 6.63), P = 0.31)), except for a significant advantage in active flexion and active abduction(≤ 4week: active flexion ( MD = 9.65, 95% CI(0.24, 19.05), P = 0.04); active abduction ( MD = 5.63, 95% CI (-2.50, 13.77), P = 0.04)). At mid-term and late follow-up, the improvement in range of motion in the PRP group was significantly better than that in the control group in all directions (4-24week: active flexion ( MD = 17.90, 95% CI (7.88, 27.93), P = 0.0005); passive flexion ( MD = 12.55, 95% CI (4.88, 20.22), P = 0.001); active abduction ( MD = 19.39, 95% CI (10.47, 28.31), P <0.0001); passive abduction ( MD = 18.23, 95% CI (5.55, 30.91), P = 0.005); active internal rotation ( MD = 6.43, 95% CI (2.71, 10.14), P = 0.0007); passive internal rotation (MD = 4.80, 95% CI (1.51, 8.09), P = 0.004); active external rotation ( MD = 12.74, 95% CI ( 7.03, 18.46), P <0.0001); passive external rotation ( MD = 8.68, 95% CI (2.33, 15.04), P = 0.007). ≥24week: active flexion ( MD = 5.09, 95% CI (2.46, 7.73), P = 0.0002); active abduction ( MD = 4.80, 95% CI (2.22, 7.38), P = 0.0003)). Moreover, in terms of the improvement of range of motion, the advantage of PRP compared with Others was more pronounced at any period than when compared with the CS group. As is shown in Supplemental Table 2 .
According to the overall analysis of follow-up time, it can be seen that from the early to the middle follow-up, the therapeutic advantage of PRP has a more obvious trend, but in the late follow-up stage, this advantage has a tendency to weaken. As is shown in Fig. 4 . and Supplemental Table 2 .
Two other studies [ 32 , 33 ] reported follow-up results of improvement in ROM, but they both lacked detailed data ( Mean ± SD, Median(IQR) ) for meta-analysis and were not included.
Forest plot for Meta-analysis of active flexion
A total of five RCTs 5, 46, 47, 51, 55 reported on the post-treatment shoulder pain disability index (SPADI), of which two reported only pain and disability (SPADI Pain, SPADI Disability) but not have SPADI Total [ 46 , 55 ], while the other three reported on all three indices.
Analysis of the data showed that SPADI improved significantly better in the PRP group than in the control group after treatment. SPADI Total ( MD =-16.87, 95% CI (-22.84, -10.91), P <0.00001); SPADI Pain ( MD=-5.38, 95% CI (-7.80, -2.97), P < 0.0001); SPADI Disability ( MD =-11.00, 95% CI (-13.61, -8.39), P < 0.00001), refer to Fig. 5 . for forest plots (with SPADI Total as an example).
Except for SPADI Pain, the other two indicators showed a significant advantage in the PRP group compared with the control group in the early stage (≤ 4week: SPADI Total ( MD =-13.92, 95% CI ( -24.30, -3.54), P = 0.009);SPADI Disability ( MD =-7.33, 95% CI (-12.16, -2.49) , P = 0.003)). And from the analysis of different periods, with the increase of follow-up time, the therapeutic advantage of PRP has a more obvious trend. See Fig. 5 . and Supplemental Table 1 .
According to the different follow-up periods, the subgroup analysis of SPADI was conducted from the perspective of different control methods. The results showed that in the early and middle stages, only SPADI Pain showed a stronger advantage of PRP compared with Others than with CS group. While the other two aspects show that the advantage of PRP over CS group was stronger than that over Others group. There were no other controls in the late stage, so there was no comparison. See Supplemental Table 2 .
The fact that PRP is superior to CS in improving SPADI was also corroborated by one other study [ 56 ]. However, this study was excluded since it only contained graphs and lacked specific data ( Mean ± SD, Median(IQR) ), which prevented meta-analysis.
Forest plot for Meta-analysis of SPADI Total
A total of three RCTs [ 1 , 45 , 49 ] used the UCLA score as an outcome indicator. The analysis showed that overall the UCLA score was significantly better in the PRP group than in the control group after treatment ( MD = 3.31, 95% CI (1.02, 5.60), P = 0.005), and according to the analysis results of different follow-up periods, it can be seen that from the early to the middle follow-up, the therapeutic advantage of PRP has a more obvious trend, but in the late follow-up stage, this advantage has a tendency to weaken or even disappear, refer to Supplemental Table 1 .
A total of 3 RCTs [ 48 , 50 , 54 ] used the DASH score as an outcome indicator. The meta-analysis results revealed a significant difference in DASH between the PRP group and the control group following treatment ( MD =-4.94, 95% CI (-9.34, -0.53), P = 0.03). And according to the analysis of different follow-up periods, it can be seen that with the increase of follow-up time, the therapeutic advantage of PRP has a more obvious trend, refer to Supplemental Table 1 .
An additional study [ 56 ] further supported the finding that PRP was superior to CS in improving DASH. Nevertheless, this particular study was eliminated due to the absence of pertinent data ( Mean ± SD, Median(IQR) ).
Only 2 RCTs [ 52 , 55 ] in the included literature utilized treatment outcome grading as an outcome indicator, which in turn allowed conversion to a therapeutic effectiveness rate. The effective rates were 68.0% and 86.2% in PRP group and 52.0% and 10.0% in control group, respectively, the Meta-analysis result is shown in Supplemental Table 1 . Another 2 cohort study [ 37 , 38 ] and a study [ 30 ] excluded due to incomplete data also used treatment outcome grading as an outcome indicator, with the effective rates were 97.3%, 87.0% and 92.0% in the PRP group and 81.1%, 84.4% and 81.0% in the control group. Therefore, the results of all three studies showed that the PRP treatment group was more effective compared to the control group, but the advantage wasn’t statistically significant.
Except for a few outcome indicators in ROM, which showed little heterogeneity due to fewer included studies, the heterogeneity test results of all the other outcome indicators showed great heterogeneity: P < 0.05, I 2 > 50%. Through the leave-one-out analysis, no obvious source of heterogeneity was found, and the reasons for this were that there was no consistent international standard on the use and production of PRP, and the treatment methods of the control group were also different, which may be the sources of heterogeneity. In terms of treatment methods, a total of one study was arthrolysis, one was blank control, one was normal saline control, and the rest were corticosteroid (the types of steroids were also different). For conservative analysis, the random effects model was used for analysis in this study, which has been discussed in the methods section.
The outcome index of VAS score with the largest number of included literatures was analyzed for bias. A symmetrical distribution of funnel plots was observed, with most studies located at the top of the funnel plots, and no significant risk of bias was discovered. The funnel plot is given in Fig. 6 .
Funnel plot of VAS
The analysis of this study showed that PRP reduces shoulder VAS score and relieves pain, progressing over time from an insignificant effect in the early follow-up (≤ 4 weeks), to the most significant effect in the mid-term follow-up (4–24 weeks), and then gradually diminishing or even disappearing in the late follow-up (≥ 24 weeks). This phenomenon is basically consistent with previous studies on PRP [ 19 , 57 ]. The main reason may be that with the progress of treatment, the inflammation is almost controlled, and the soft tissues such as tendons and bursae are almost repaired, so the effect gradually diminishes or disappears. This trend was also demonstrated in ROM, UCLA, which enhanced shoulder function and alleviated pain. The study findings demonstrate that the use of PRP in treating frozen shoulder is most effective during mid-term follow-up (4–24 weeks), which is consistent with existing research [ 20 ] indicating that the optimal period for PRP treatment ranges from 3 to 6 months.
In the analyzed RCTs and excluded cohort studies, the pattern of highest effectiveness during the mid-term follow-up, followed by a decrease or loss of effectiveness during the long-term follow-up, remained predominantly consistent. In addition to the fact that the efficacy of PRP itself diminished or disappeared over time, this result may also be related to the natural course of FS itself. As a self-limiting disease, the progression of FS can be divided into three stages: Stage 1(2–9 months), is characterized by progressively increasing pain and stiffness and is called the freezing stage. 4–12 months is the stage 2, characterized by persistent stiffness and pain, called the frozen stage; 12–42 months is the stage 3, called the thawing period, the pain gradually alleviates, and the joint motion gradually spontaneously recovers [ 46 ].
In the included studies, patients were mostly in their 4th-5th month of disease. Thus, during the middle follow-up of treatment, these patients were in the freezing period (4–12 months) of their disease course, when pain and dysfunction symptoms are most evident and treatment is most needed. So the PRP group is significantly more effective than the control group. While after 6 months or even a year of treatment, the patients have mostly entered the thawing period (12–42 months), and the natural course of the disease may also demonstrate reduced pain and gradual restoration of joint flexibility, and the PRP group may have a less obvious advantage compared to it. For example, Jeyaraman et al. [ 38 ] pointed out that in terms of grading the final treatment effect, with the effective rate of 87.0% in the PRP group compared with 84.4% in the control group, the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant, which may be related to the fact that the time to evaluate the efficacy is 1 year after treatment, at which time some patients may have entered the thawing period and may have natural remission.
In terms of safety, at present, most clinicians routinely choose oral or intra-articular injections of hormones and physiotherapy to treat FS [ 4 , 58 ], with block therapy being the most common and most effective, however, there are numerous clinical and animal studies showing that the use of CS may cause cartilage damage [ 7 ] and even osteonecrosis [ 8 ], and the more the dose administered, the more significant the damaging effect. Therefore, CS should be avoided in the clinical treatment of joint pain. In contrast, in the included literature, only Jeyaraman et al. [ 38 ] reported that pain occurred in 17 patients (36.95%) and swelling in 7 patients (15.21%) after PRP treatment, while pain occurred in 23 patients in the control group (51.11%), indicating that there was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse effects between the two groups. In the remaining studies, except for Shahzad et al. [ 49 ] and Karabas et al. [ 47 ], which did not report adverse effects to treatment, other studies have reported no adverse effects, which may be related to the fact that PRP is an autologous blood component and there is no concern for rejection. Past studies on PRP also support that it is a safe and effective biologic therapy, with a post-treatment efficiency rate of about 70% after imaging assessment, significantly higher than that of about 40% in the control group [ 59 ], and a significantly lower recurrence rate than in the control group [ 60 ]. A study by Wang Heng et al. [ 61 ] noted that the complication rate after PRP use was 11.6% compared with 27.6% in the control group. Chen Juan et al. [ 62 ] noted that there was no significant difference in the rate of adverse effects between the PRP and control groups, both of which were mainly painful knee swelling, a common postoperative complication, and most of the symptoms disappeared within 6 h of treatment, this is highly consistent with the research results of Jeyaraman et al. [ 38 ]. Most of the adverse effects and complications reported in most studies were not related to PRP itself [ 63 ], so PRP has an advantage in terms of safety of treatment.
Overall, PRP was was identified as significantly relieve clinical symptoms, and have a higher efficiency rate and certain safety guarantees compared to other control treatment measures, supporting the hypothesis of this study.
Currently, several meta-analysis studies on relevant topics have been published, but the analysis of outcome indicators and the inclusion of relevant literature are not comprehensive, and there are cases in which some RCTs published within a corresponding period are not included in the analysis or RCTs are mixed with Cohort studies. This study included RCTs comprehensively and accurately, including a total of 14 RCTs. This will be the first meta-analysis in the world to comprehensively and in detail analyze the effect and safety of PRP for FS based only on existing RCTs, so as to provide some guidance for clinical treatment. This is the advantage and novelty of this study.
By the time of submission, only three relevant meta-analyses have been published [ 64 , 65 , 66 ], compared with the study of Nudelman et al. [ 65 ] and Yu et al. [ 66 ], this study included more original literature, there were 14 RCTs included in this study, and the outcome indicators included in this analysis were more comprehensive and detailed. In contrast, these two meta-analysis articles only included 4–5 original studies, including several cohort studies, and they included fewer outcome measures in the analysis. Compared with this study, Lin HW et al. [ 64 ] included 13 original articles, which are roughly the same as this study, but the items analyzed in his study were incomplete, and only active flexion, abduction, external rotation, and passive ones were included, no other direction. In addition, the UCLA, DASH, and SPADI were mixed together to meta-analyses, which may have some bias errors. The indicators included in this study are more comprehensive, and the analysis is more detailed and in-depth. This study only conducted descriptive analysis of non-RCTs and did not incorporate a data analysis, as previous research has indicated that these types of studies can influence the outcomes related to pain and ROM [ 64 ]. This is the advantage of this meta-analysis.
However, the present study has several limitations. First, there is no consensus in the current clinical studies on the preparation and use of PRP, which may cause some bias, as Supplemental Table 3 , this limitation also exists in many meta-analyses on PRP in the past [ 67 , 68 ], so this study adopts a conservative random effects model for analysis to reduce bias. Secondly, the sample sizes included were generally small, and more high-quality RCTs are needed to confirm the findings of this study. Thirdly, the variation in follow-up duration and the inconsistent recording of outcome indicators across different studies have influenced the assessment results and introduced potential bias. However, this paper has successfully minimized the impact of these factors. These factors may impact the level of evidence for the results.
In conclusion, PRP therapy not only can relieve pain and functional impairment in FS patients in the short term compared to other therapy commonly used, but also can adequate sufficient safety and satisfactory consequences in medium to long-term follow-up. However, due to the small sample size of the study, the above conclusions need to be verified by more large samples, longer follow-up time and multicentre RCTs to better guide clinical decision-making.
All data and materials are contained within the manuscript and its additional files.
The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses
Visual analog score
Range of Motion
The University of California at Los Angeles shoulder rating scale
Shoulder Pain Disability Index
Disability of the Arm, Shoulder Hand Questionnaire
Randomized controlled trials
Non-randomized controlled trial
Review Manager 5.4
Relative risk
Confidence interval
Mean difference
Articular injection corticosteroids
Corticosteroids
Mean ± standard deviation
Median(Interquartile range)
Lin J. Platelet-rich plasma injection in the treatment of frozen shoulder: a randomized controlled trial with 6-month follow-up. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2018;56(8):366–71. https://doi.org/10.5414/CP203262 .
Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar
Kelley MJ, Shaffer MA, Kuhn JE, Michener LA, Seitz AL, Uhl TL, et al. Shoulder pain and mobility deficits: adhesive capsulitis. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2013;43(5):A1–31. https://doi.org/10.2519/jospt.2013.0302 .
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Ewald A. Adhesive capsulitis: a review. Am Fam Physician. 2011;83(4):417–22.
PubMed Google Scholar
Cho CH, Lee YH, Kim DH, Lim YJ, Baek CS, Kim DH, Definition. Diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of frozen shoulder: a Consensus Survey of Shoulder specialists. Clin Orthop Surg. 2020;12(1):60–7. https://doi.org/10.4055/cios.2020.12.1.60 .
Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Pinnaka VS, Thati B, Sunkara R. A R. A comparative study on the effectiveness of platelet rich plasma injection versus corticosteroid injection in treatment of adhesive capsulitis of shoulder. Trends Clin Med Sci 2021; SI: Recent developments ofmedical and surgical research 476–485. https://doi.org/10.30538/psrp-tmcs2023.si-rdmsr066 .
Lychagin AV, Bogatov VB, Tselishcheva EY, Muzychenkov AV. Results of shoulder Adhesive Capsulitis Treatment with the use of platelet Rich plasma and nucleotide drugs: a comparative study. Travmatologiya i Ortopediya Rossii. 2022;28(4):126–35. https://doi.org/10.17816/2311-2905-1782 .
Article Google Scholar
Haider SI, Awais MZ, Iqbal MT. Role of Platelet-Rich Plasma in the treatment of Adhesive Capsulitis: a prospective cohort study. Cureus. 2022;14(10):e30542. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.30542 .
Agrawal AC, Nayak B. Management of adhesive capsulitis of shoulder joint by single platelet rich plasma injection. J Orthop Traumatol Rehabil. 2019;11:62–5. https://doi.org/10.4103/jotr.jotr_28_19 .
Haider S, Awais M. Role of Platelet-Rich Plasma in the treatment of Adhesive Capsulitis: a prospective cohort study. Cureus. 2022;14(10):e30542. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.30542 .
Lin Junhong W, Qunxiang S, Jianping. Fang Li, Li Jiawei. Clinical efficacy of platelet—rich plasma(PRP) injection in treatment of fozen shoulder. Zhejiang Clin Med. 2017;19(4):673–5.
Google Scholar
Iqra M, Aftab H, Hammad U, Syed A. Ultrasonography-guided hydrodissection using platelet-rich plasma or corticosteroid in adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder: a comparative study. Indian J Pain. 2022;36(2):90–4. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijpn.ijpn_4_22 .
Karabas C, Calis HT, Topaloglu US, Karakukcu C. Effects of platelet-rich plasma injection on pain, range of motion, and disability in adhesive capsulitis: a prospective, randomized-controlled study. Turkish J Phys Med Rehabilitation. 2021;67(4):462–72. https://doi.org/10.5606/tftrd.2021.6690 .
Kothari SY, Srikumar V, Singh N. Comparative efficacy of platelet Rich plasma injection, corticosteroid injection and Ultrasonic Therapy in the treatment of Periarthritis Shoulder. J Clin Diagn Res. 2017;11(5):15–8. https://doi.org/10.7860/jcdr/2017/17060.9895 .
Article CAS Google Scholar
Shahzad HF, Taqi M, Gillani S, Masood F, Ali M. Comparison of functional outcome between Intra-articular Injection of Corticosteroid Versus platelet-rich plasma in frozen shoulder: a Randomized Controlled Trial. Cureus. 2021;13(12):e20560. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.20560 .
Thu AC, Kwak SG, Shein WN, Htun M, Htwe TTH, Chang MC. Comparison of ultrasound-guided platelet-rich plasma injection and conventional physical therapy for management of adhesive capsulitis: a randomized trial. J Int Med Res. 2020;48(12):300060520976032. https://doi.org/10.1177/0300060520976032 .
Unlu B, Calis FA, Karapolat H, Uzdu A, Tanigor G, Kirazli Y. Efficacy of platelet-rich plasma injections in patients with adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder. Int Orthop. 2021;45(1):181–90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-020-04518-9 .
Jain MP, Agrawal D, Yadav D. Significance of platelet rich plasma (PRP) and corticosteroid injection in management of Adhesive capsulitis of shoulder. Int J Orthop Sci. 2021;7(2):495–8. https://doi.org/10.22271/ortho.2021.v7.i2g.2667 .
Zhang W, Duan W, Zhu J, Zhang N, Luo Y. The effect of arthroscopic lysis combined with platelet-rich plasma(PRP)on mobility and risk of recurrence in patients with primary frozen shoulder. Zhejiang Clin Med. 2021;23(11):1584–6.
CAS Google Scholar
Gupta GK, Shekhar S, Haque Z, Halder S, Manjhi AK, Rai A. Comparison of the efficacy of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and local corticosteroid injection in Periarthritis shoulder: a prospective, Randomized, Open, Blinded End-Point (PROBE) study. Cureus. 2022;14(9):e29253. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.29253 .
Kumar AC, Poovaiah, Ravish VN. Randomized controlled trial of functional outcome of periarthritis of shoulder (Adhesive Capsulitis) in a group of 60 patients using intraarticular triamcinolone vs. intraarticular platelet rich plasma. Indian J Orthop Surg. 2021;9(1):57–61. https://doi.org/10.18231/j.ijos.2021.009 .
Somisetty TK, Seenappa H, Das S. Comparing the efficacy of intra-articular platelet-rich plasma and corticosteroid injections in the management of frozen shoulder: a Randomized Controlled Trial. Cureus. 2023;15(5):e39728. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.39728 .
Zhao Y, Zhai W. Histological observation of tendine-bone healing after anterior cruciate ligament reconstructed by platelet-rich plasma combined with deproteinized bone of calf. Chin J Reparative Reconstr Surg. 2010;24(11):1323–9.
Canbulat N, Eren I, Atalar AC, Demirhan M, Eren SM, Ucak A. Nonoperative treatment of frozen shoulder: oral glucocorticoids. Int Orthop. 2015;39(2):249–54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-014-2650-1 .
Barber FA, Hrnack SA, Snyder SJ, Hapa O. Rotator Cuff Repair Healing Influenced by platelet-rich plasma construct augmentation. Arthroscopy. 2011;27(8):1029–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arthro.2011.06.010 .
Von Wehren L, Blanke F, Todorov A, Heisterbach P, Sailer J, Majewski M. The effect of subacromial injections of autologous conditioned plasma versus cortisone for the treatment of symptomatic partial rotator cuff tears. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2016;24(12):3787–92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-015-3651-3 .
Wang H, Zhang L, Zhang J, Wang W, Yao C, Guo W. Meta-analysis of efficacy and safety of platelet Rich plasma combined with autologous Fat in Facial Rejuvenation. China Med Cosmetology. 2022;12(10):41–5. https://doi.org/10.19593/j.issn.2095-0721.2022.10.010 .
Chen J, Li H, Chen Z. Effect and safety of platelet-rich plasma injection combined with Pregabalin in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Chin J Blood Transfus. 2022;35(12):1239–43. https://doi.org/10.13303/j.cjbt.issn.1004-549x.2022.12.012 .
Niu C, Huang R, Xu Z, Lu Y, Huang Y, Zeng X. Efficacy and safety of platelet-rich plasma in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcer: a meta-analysis. Chin J Tissue Eng Res. 2019;23(14):2285–91. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.2095-4344.1663 .
Lin HW, Tam KW, Liou TH, Rau CL, Huang SW, Hsu TH. Efficacy of platelet-rich plasma injection on Range of Motion, Pain, and disability in patients with Adhesive Capsulitis: a systematic review and Meta-analysis. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2023.03.032 .
Nudelman B, Song B, Higginbotham DO, Piple AS, Montgomery WH. Platelet-Rich plasma injections for shoulder Adhesive Capsulitis are at least equivalent to corticosteroid or saline solution injections: a systematic review of prospective cohort studies. Arthroscopy. 2023;39(5):1320–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arthro.2023.01.013 .
Upadhyay S, Jorule K, Varma H, Chansoria MO. Ongoing efficacy of platelet rich plasma vs corticosteroid injection in patients with Adhesive Capsulitis: a prospective Randomized Assessor-blind comparative analysis. J Recent Adv Pain. 2020;6(1):10–6. https://doi.org/10.5005/jp-journals-10046-0160 .
McCarthy D. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-related gastrointestinal toxicity: definitions and epidemiology. Am J Med. 1998;105(5a):s3–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0002-9343(98)00274-5 .
Hossain MA, Park J, Choi SH, Kim G. Dexamethasone induces apoptosis in proliferative canine tendon cells and chondrocytes. Vet Comp Orthop Traumatol. 2008;21(4):337–42.
Chr.Hannig V, Jianpin MRWH. Q. Multiple osteonecrosis treated with high-dose corticosteroids: a case report. Radiol Pract 1987; (04): 146–9.
Y J, C W, Z H. The treatment of shoulder periarthritis by shoulder block technique and releasing manipulations. J Trad Chin Orthop Trauma. 2004;16(6):12–3. +64.
Lubkowska A, Dolegowska B, Banfi G. Growth factor content in PRP and their applicability in medicine. J Biol Regul Homeost Agents. 2012;26(2 Suppl 1):s3–22.
Xu K, Al-Ani MK, Sun Y, Xu W, Pan L, Song Y, et al. Platelet-rich plasma activates tendon-derived stem cells to promote regeneration of Achilles tendon rupture in rats. J Tissue Eng Regen Med. 2017;11(4):1173–84. https://doi.org/10.1002/term.2020 .
Jo CH, Kim JE, Yoon KS, Shin S. Platelet-rich plasma stimulates cell proliferation and enhances matrix gene expression and synthesis in tenocytes from human rotator cuff tendons with degenerative tears. Am J Sports Med. 2012;40(5):1035–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/0363546512437525 .
Zhang J, Wang JH. Characterization of differential properties of rabbit tendon stem cells and tenocytes. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2010;11:10. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2474-11-10 .
Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar
Guo K, Yao X, Wu W, Yu Z, Li Z, Ma Z, et al. HIF-1α/SDF-1/CXCR4 axis reduces neuronal apoptosis via enhancing the bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cell migration in rats with traumatic brain injury. Exp Mol Pathol. 2020;114:104416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yexmp.2020.104416 .
Acebes-Huerta A, Arias-Fernández T, Bernardo Á, Muñoz-Turrillas MC, Fernández-Fuertes J, Seghatchian J, et al. Platelet-derived bio-products: classification update, applications, concerns and new perspectives. Transfus Apher Sci. 2020;59(1):102716. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.transci.2019.102716 .
Dai WL, Zhou AG, Zhang H, Zhang J. Efficacy of Platelet-Rich Plasma in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis: a Meta-analysis of Randomized controlled trials. Arthroscopy. 2017;33(3):659–e670651. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arthro.2016.09.024 .
Cook CS, Smith PA. Clinical update: why PRP should be your first choice for injection therapy in treating osteoarthritis of the knee. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2018;11(4):583–92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12178-018-9524-x .
Moretti L, Notarnicola A, Ostuni A, Pesce V, Maccagnano G, Coviello M. Umbilical cord blood platelet-rich plasma injections for epicondylitis treatment: a prospective study. J Biol REGULATORS Homeost AGENTS. 2021;35(4):1337–42.
Liu Z, Shen Y, Dai B, Chen D, Liu J, Deng W. Short-term efficacy of opening wedge high tibia osteotomy combined with microfracture and platelet rich plasma in treatment of medial unicompartmental knee osteoarthritis. Chin J Bone Joint Surg. 2021;14(12):990–4. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.2095-9958.2021.12.03 .
Zhang F, Yang Y, Hu X, Wang J, Shen J, Wang B, et al. High tibial osteotomy combined with autologous platelet-rich plasma in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. J Practical Orthop. 2020;26(12):1114–7. https://doi.org/10.13795/j.cnki.sgkz.2020.12.014 .
Zhu P, Wang Z, Li H, Cai Y. Platelet-Rich plasma injection in non-operative treatment of partial-thickness rotator cuff tears: a systematic review and Meta-analysis. J Rehabil Med. 2022;54:jrm00312. https://doi.org/10.2340/jrm.v54.1434 .
Hurley ET, Lim Fat D, Moran CJ, Mullett H. The efficacy of platelet-rich plasma and platelet-rich fibrin in arthroscopic rotator cuff repair: a Meta-analysis of Randomized controlled trials. Am J Sports Med. 2019;47(3):753–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0363546517751397 .
Boffa A, Filardo G. Platelet-Rich plasma for intra-articular injections: preclinical and clinical evidence. Methods in molecular biology. (Clifton NJ). 2023;2598:381–90. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2839-3_28 .
Feusi O, Karol A, Fleischmann T, von Rechenberg B, Bouaicha S, Werner CML, et al. Platelet-rich plasma as a potential prophylactic measure against frozen shoulder in an in vivo shoulder contracture model. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2022;142(3):363–72. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00402-020-03617-x .
Shaffer B, Tibone JE, Kerlan RK. Frozen shoulder. A long-term follow-up. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1992;74(5):738–46.
Higgins JP, Altman DG, Gøtzsche PC, Jüni P, Moher D, Oxman AD, et al. The Cochrane collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials. BMJ. 2011;343:d5928. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d5928 .
Zhu T, Zhou J, Hwang J, Xu X. Effects of platelet-rich plasma on clinical outcomes after Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: a systematic review and Meta-analysis. Orthop J Sports Med. 2022;10(1):23259671211061535. https://doi.org/10.1177/23259671211061535 .
Ghaffar NAA, Ghanem MA. Combined platelet rich plasma intra-articular shoulder injection and stellate ganglion block. A new technique for management of chronic post-mastectomy shoulder pain syndrome. Sri Lankan J Anaesthesiol. 2019;27(2):133–8. https://doi.org/10.4038/slja.v27i2.8416 .
Barman A, Mukherjee S, Sinha MK, Sahoo J, Viswanath A. The benefit of platelet-rich plasma injection over institution-based physical therapy program in adhesive capsulitis patients with diabetes mellitus: prospective observational cohort study. Clin Shoulder Elb. 2021;24(4):215–23. https://doi.org/10.5397/cise.2021.00381 .
Liu D, Xie D. Clinical effect of jiancongealing ointment combined with PRP(platelet rich plasma) on scapulohumeral periarthritis. Diabetes World. 2020;17(10):8.
Buddhadeb N, Somnath G, Dhananjoy B, Swarnendu. Prospective study on the functional and radiological outcome of open reduction and plating for intraarticular fractures of the Calcaneum. Int J Orthop Sci. 2023;9(1):455–64.
Kavia A, Singh J, Raina S, Sahni G. A comparative study of single intra-articular platelet-rich plasma versus corticosteroid injection in the treatment of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder. Natl J Physiol Pharm Pharmacol. 2024;14(Online First). https://doi.org/10.5455/njppp.2023.13.03153202331052023 .
Qaisar Alam W, Muhammad N, Muhammad. Aimal Sattar, Ullah N. comparison of outcome of intra-articular steroid injection versus autologous platelets rich plasma in frozen shoulder patients. Pak J Surg. 2022;38(3):196–200.
Hirahara AM, Ingwerson JL, Hsieh SJ, Yamazaki MK. Platelet-rich plasma versus cortisone injection for nonsurgical treatment of shoulder pain. Clin J Sport Med. 2013;23(2):141–2.
Mirzaee F, Aslani H, Nourbakhsh ST, Fayyaz MR, Zafarani Z, Sazegari MA. Platelet-rich plasma for frozen shoulder. Archives Bone Joint Surg. 2018;6(0):15.
Barman A, Mukherjee S, Sahoo J, Maiti R, Rao PB, Sinha MK, et al. Single intra-articular platelet-rich plasma Versus Corticosteroid injections in the treatment of Adhesive Capsulitis of the shoulder: a Cohort Study. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2019;98(7):549–57. https://doi.org/10.1097/phm.0000000000001144 .
Qi P, Wang Y, Cao Z. Evaluation of the clinical efficacy of injection of autologous platelet-rich plasma on pain points in the treatment of frozen shoulder. J Yan’an University(Medical Sci Edition). 2022;20(1):42–6. https://doi.org/10.19893/j.cnki.ydyxb.2021-0183 .
Jeyaraman M, Ramesh R, Prajwal G, Dhamsania H. The comparative and prospective study on efficacy and functional outcome of autologous platelet rich plasma injection vs hydrodissection in adhesive capsulitis of shoulder. Int J Res Orthop. 2018;4(6):848–53. https://doi.org/10.18203/issn.2455-4510 .
Lee MJ, Yoon KS, Oh S, Shin S, Jo CH. Allogenic pure platelet-rich plasma therapy for Adhesive Capsulitis: a Bed-to-bench study with propensity score matching using a Corticosteroid Control Group. Am J Sports Med. 2021;49(9):2309–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/03635465211018636 .
Yu S, Hu R, Feng H, Huang D. Efficacy of platelet-rich plasma injection in the treatment of frozen shoulder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2023;36(3):551–64. https://doi.org/10.3233/BMR-220034 .
Du S, Su S, Jiang W, Wang X, Zhou L, Qi J, et al. Platelet-rich plasma versus hyaluronic acid for treatment of knee osteoarthritis: a meta-analysis. Orthop J Chin. 2022;30(01):39–43. https://doi.org/10.3977/j.issn.1005-8478.2022.01.07 .
Zheng C, Wang G, Peng Y. The efficiency of platelet-rich plasma on arthroscopic rotator cuff repair: a Meta-analysis. Chin J Bone Joint. 2022;11(03):192–201. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.2095-252X.2022.03.007 .
Download references
The research is funded by Sichuan Provincial Administration of traditional Chinese Medicine, the project number is 2021MS454, the special fund for 100 Talents Program of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University of TCM, the project number is 22-B07, and the scientific research promotion plan of “Xinglin Scholars” Discipline Talents of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the project number is 030058047.
Wen-Bin Zhang and Yu-Lin Ma contributed equally to this work.
Department of Orthopedics, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, 610072, Sichuan, China
Wen-Bin Zhang, Yu-Lin Ma, Fei-Long Lu, Hai-Rui Guo, Hao Song & Yi-Mei Hu
Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, 611137, Sichuan, China
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Conceptualization: WB-Z.Search: HR-G, YL-M, and FL-L.Data Extraction and quality assessment: YL-M and H-S. Statistical analysis: WB-Z and FL-L.Writing: WB-Z, YL-M, FL-L and HR-G.Supervision and modification: YM-H. WB-Z and YL-M contributed equally to the study.All authors read and approved the final version of this paper.
Correspondence to Yi-Mei Hu .
Ethics approval and consent to participate.
Not applicable.
Competing interests.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Publisher’s note.
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Supplementary material 2, supplementary material 3, supplementary material 4, rights and permissions.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
Reprints and permissions
Cite this article.
Zhang, WB., Ma, YL., Lu, FL. et al. The clinical efficacy and safety of platelet-rich plasma on frozen shoulder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 25 , 718 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-024-07629-1
Download citation
Received : 08 October 2023
Accepted : 25 June 2024
Published : 06 September 2024
DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-024-07629-1
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
ISSN: 1471-2474
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
What is the Purpose of a Literature Review?
IntroductionWhen we think of a literature review, we often forget to consider the different types of reviews and the different roles or functions that literature reviews can have. In this short presentation I will first discuss some functions of literature reviews, and then make some points about how the function or purpose of your review should inform the type that you choose to do, and the ...
The literature review structure and function
How to Write a Literature Review | Guide, Examples, & ...
Example: Predictors and Outcomes of U.S. Quality Maternity Leave: A Review and Conceptual Framework: 10.1177/08948453211037398 ; Systematic review: "The authors of a systematic review use a specific procedure to search the research literature, select the studies to include in their review, and critically evaluate the studies they find." (p. 139).
A literature review serves two main purposes: 1) To show awareness of the present state of knowledge in a particular field, including: seminal authors. the main empirical research. theoretical positions. controversies. breakthroughs as well as links to other related areas of knowledge. 2) To provide a foundation for the author's research.
What is a literature review? - Literature Reviews
What kinds of literature reviews are written? Narrative Review: The purpose of this type of review is to describe the current state of the research on a specific topic/research and to offer a critical analysis of the literature reviewed. Studies are grouped by research/theoretical categories, and themes and trends, strengths and weakness, and gaps are identified.
What is a Literature Review?
A literature review is a review and synthesis of existing research on a topic or research question. A literature review is meant to analyze the scholarly literature, make connections across writings and identify strengths, weaknesses, trends, and missing conversations. A literature review should address different aspects of a topic as it ...
What is a Literature Review? Introduction The process of undertaking a literature review is an integral part of doing research. While this may be considered to be its primary function, the literature review is also an important tool that serves to inform and develop practice and invite dis-cussion in academic work.
A literature review is a written work that: Compiles significant research published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers; Surveys scholarly articles, books, dissertations, conference proceedings, and other sources; Examines contrasting perspectives, theoretical approaches, methodologies, findings, results, conclusions.
Most literature reviews are embedded in articles, books, and dissertations. In most research articles, there are set as a specific section, usually titled, "literature review", so they are hard to miss.But, sometimes, they are part of the narrative of the introduction of a book or article. This section is easily recognized since the author is engaging with other academics and experts by ...
A literature review is a critical and comprehensive analysis of existing research, studies, articles, books, and other relevant sources on a specific topic or subject. It serves as a foundational step in the research process, helping researchers understand the current state of knowledge, identify gaps in the literature, and establish a context ...
What is a Literature Review? How to Write It (with Examples)
5. The Literature Review - Organizing Your Social Sciences ...
Purpose of a Literature Review - Library Guides - LibGuides
A literature review is an integrated analysis-- not just a summary-- of scholarly writings and other relevant evidence related directly to your research question.That is, it represents a synthesis of the evidence that provides background information on your topic and shows a association between the evidence and your research question.
Reason #3: Setting a Theoretical Framework. It can help to think of the literature review as the foundations for your study, since the rest of your work will build upon the ideas and existing research you discuss therein. A crucial part of this is formulating a theoretical framework, which comprises the concepts and theories that your work is ...
What is the purpose of a literature review?
The literature of a literature review is not made up of novels and short stories and poetry—but is the collection of writing and research that has been produced on a particular topic. The purpose of the literature review is to give you an overview of a particular topic. Your job is to discover the research that has been done, the major ...
The literature review is not a comprehensive history of your topic, but a way to provide context to your reader about research that has preceded your study. Be aware that the literature review is an iterative process. As you read and write initial drafts, you will find new threads and complementary themes, at which point you will return to ...
A literature review basically has three functions: to convey to the reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are; in doing so, you clearly pass the message to the reader that you are familiar with these theories & ideas. Consequently, you are somewhat more of an expert writer, or ...
To systematically review the clinical efficacy (pain, function, quality of life) and safety of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in the treatment of frozen shoulder through meta-analysis, and provide evidence-based medical evidence for the effectiveness of PRP in the treatment of frozen shoulder. A search was conducted on international databases (Pubmed, Web of science, Embase) and Chinese databases ...